We value heirlooms—whether it's a necklace that your grandmother told you to give to your future wife, or the long narra table that saw many, many family dinners through three generations of use. We hold on to things for as long as we can...or until termites, flooding, or unavoidable wear and tear get to them first. But for Resurrection Furniture and Found Objects Gallery owners Binggoy de Ocampo and Arlene Barbaza, unwanted objects don't have to succumb to neglect, or end up forlorn and forgotten. Their space in Quezon City doesn't only sell household staples and showcase artwork, it also breathes new life into used things.

IMAGE Jun Pinzon

IMAGE Jun Pinzon

"When we started, we wanted to do something different. It just so happened that that was the year of Ondoy [2009] and then there was a lot of flooding. We realized that the cause of [the] flooding was a lot of waste. So we had that idea of using waste to do furniture," reveals de Ocampo about the beginning of Resurrection Furniture and Found Objects Gallery. "We started in 2009, but we moved to this place in 2011," he adds. The workshop and showroom is found in a 1952 home, ironically across a new townhouse complex along Alabama Street.

IMAGE Vincent Coscolluela and Jun Pinzon | Real Living Archives

A photo of the store in 2011.

IMAGE Jun Pinzon

IMAGE Jun Pinzon

As soon as you enter, you see toilet tanks-turned-planters lining the driveway. Inside, there's a lamp made out of old computer keyboards, a study desk that used to be a grand piano, a round mirror with piano keyboards for a frame, and a desk organizer that used to be a desktop CPU. There's also a leaning cabinet, appropriately called the Pilita Bookshelf.

IMAGE Jun Pinzon

Out in the garden, stools fashioned out of toilet bowls are put together to add to the warm and welcoming vibe of the house. "I would say that's one funniest, quirkiest that we've done," De Ocampo says about the piece.

Where do they get the materials? Barbaza says that they now have their regular kariton boy who would sell them scrap materials collected from other houses. There's an old refrigerator, run-down rattan chairs, and even extra pieces of wood and wrought iron from construction sites. Some of their clients would bring their own "trash" and ask the designers to work their magic on it. Because no two items are similar at Resurrection Furniture, their patrons are those "who like things that are different, unique. People who don't want the usual furniture they find in furniture stores," Barbaza tells us.

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IMAGE Jun Pinzon

IMAGE Jun Pinzon

For both designers, making furniture has become their outlet for creativity. They would let the found object speak for itself and surprise them once the process is done. A recycled cabinet may not have been intended to be a cabinet at first, or an upcycled chair may have had a different intention in the beginning.

IMAGE Vincent Coscolluela and Jun Pinzon | Real Living Archive

"We continue to challenge ourselves, to do something that has never been done, to create products out of trash—things that people just throw away. If we're able to do something with it, it gives us satisfaction," De Ocampo points out. And if people understand the importance of what they're doing and get what [they] do, that's just "double satisfaction" for them, says Barbaza.

IMAGE Jun Pinzon

IMAGE Jun Pinzon

At Resurrection Furniture and Found Objects Gallery, hoarding isn't taboo. It's a place where things that might otherwise be treated as trash are given a whole new lease on life.